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Since the ceasefire in 1994 Azerbaijan and Armenia have remained in deadlock over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. An internationally sponsored peace process based on closed talks between the leaders has yielded several proposals but no agreement.

On 13 June 2014, Conciliation Resources hosted an event in Tbilisi, looking at perspectives for peace since the Nagorny Karabakh ceasefire twenty years ago. This event included an expert panel discussion, the launch of the revised Russian-language edition of Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War and an exhibition of photographs taken in the run up to and during the war. Watch the panel discussion and the television interview below.

Conciliation Resources has been working in the Nagorny Karabakh context since the early 2000s. As a member of the EU-funded European Partnership for the Peaceful Resolution of the Conflict over Nagorny Karabakh (EPNK), we work with local and international policymakers, civil society activists, young people and displaced communities with the aim of improving prospects for peace in the region.

Through its EPNK activities, Conciliation Resources has sought to give a voice to people marginalised in the peace process and those most affected by the unresolved conflict.

Working with partners, we have generated fresh analysis and new ideas in relation to the peace process and brought these to policymakers. We help local partners to support displaced communities to be more active in addressing their needs, and work with local filmmakers and young people from either side of the conflict divide to produce joint films. These explore alternative views and challenge one-sided narratives on the conflict.

The panel discussion (in English) included insights from Thomas de Waal (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington), Tatul Hakobyan (Civilitas, Yerevan), Tabib Huseynov (Saferworld, Tbilisi), Mikheil Mirziashvili (Independent expert, Tbilisi) and Siegfried Woeber (Conciliation Resources, London). Some of the panel speakers took part in a program by the Georgian television station, Studio Re, on the current status and challenges of Nagorny Karabakh.

The discussion was followed by the presentation of the second Russian-language edition of Black Garden – Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War by Thomas de Waal. The book, originally published in 2003, is a definitive study of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. It is based on six months travelling through the South Caucasus, and more than 120 original interviews in the region, Moscow, and Washington. This revised Russian edition includes new chapters, as well as an updated foreword and conclusion.

The event included the opening of an exhibition of photographs taken by Giorgi Tsagareli and Shakh Aivazov in the run up to and during the Nagorny Karabakh war. This exhibition was on display in the National Parliamentary Library’s reception hall. See the photos here.

For more detailed information on the schedule for the event and the photographers in the exhibition, please download the attached file.